The Virgin Mary - Icon in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai
Icons of Mary holding her son Jesus have been popular, since the 431 AD Council of Ephesus declared Mary to be the Mother of God. The word "icon" derives from the Greek "eikon" meaning any image or representation, but the word usually is restricted to a religious image. Although the word "icon" applies to all kinds of religious images - those painted on wooden panels , on walls , those fashioned from small glass tesserae or carved in stone, metal or ivory - the term is it most often with paintings on wood.
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